+1

The conversation they have while they’re on their way to Sac is classic. I remember having the same heated discussions after games. Good-ass times.

Sometimes the skill-sets of ridiculously talented players do not align with the sensibilities of the professional leagues in which they aspire to play. The leagues just don’t ‘get’ these postmodern players. They don’t know how to fit them into the (imposed and enforced) rigid structures of their leagues. And because of this they miss opportunities to be ahead of the curve. Speaking of which, just peep how the ‘new-style‘ play of today’s created player-esque NBA guards and forwards line up with the stuff the And1 cats were doing. Really dig Alimoe‘s perspective here. Just found out he passed, crazy, dude was ‘nice’ and seemed like a nice dude.

When Michael Jordan retired the sports cognoscenti clamored to find his replacement. Kobe Bryant quickly rose to the top. Then a few years later came Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. Without Jordan these guys do not exist. He was the cell that divided to create them. You see this phenomenon everywhere—in culture, art, business, etc. There’s always a postmodern anomaly who bursts onto the scene and shocks the establishment, a player who boldly breaks up the monotony of the accepted ‘standard of greatness.’ This player is exceptional. He/she can do things we heretofore couldn’t even imagine! And although they seem to come come outta nowhere they are actually cultivated. They evolve. (Just like everything else.) Jordan’s game is the product of this…

And this…

Which was a packaged-and-sold version of this…

Jordan’s style of play dynamically contrasted that of his contemporaries. Then in the late 90s comes Kobe Bryant and then in the early part of the new millennium comes James, both players whose styles dynamically contrast their contemporaries…and they influenced and are influencing new generations of players whose respective games will—well, you get the point.

Oh, and before you object to Kobe being in ‘dynamic’ company at this point in his career…it’s not JUST skill sets that are iconoclastic, mindsets are as well.